One day at noon, on our way back from the town market, my mother and I spotted a woman walking down the street. It was a scorching hot day, and there were no trees nearby to provide shade. The woman, in her sixties, wore a thick jacket but no sun hat. My mother said she was a mentally ill woman from the neighboring village. Although she had mothered a few children, she had always been a little “off.” Nobody in her family cared anymore—they just let her be. A few days ago, my mother added, this woman suffered from sunstroke on the street. Thanks to a passerby, she was saved by a bottle of water. See, now that she's recovered, she's come back out. Several days later, I heard the woman fell at a crosswalk on her way home. By the time the villagers found her, she had already stopped...

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